On the Knees Before the Altar
by Margolo Blu
Summary: One shot sequel to Burning Ghosts. Mostly dialogue and drabble, mild slash


_Just working on my dialogue. A year later, I'm not sure I particularly like this piece, I'm not going to delete it. _

**On the Knees before the Altar **

"Ares, wait, please, hear my pleas. You just have to!" Helios exclaimed following behind the caped form who had just stormed out of a tavern. Helios had made the mistake of disturbing Ares during dinner. "You have to take this into consideration."

"Sorry Helios, your petty battles are not of my interest or time," Ares stated. His strides became wider as he tried to avoid the flame haired demi-god.

"They are not petty, Ares," Helios begged. "You considered everything that does not involve the military petty. We no longer use the military, but we'll need it soon. You have to listen if you want to survive the dire times that are coming. The humans are catching up on us. Soon they'll be more powerful. We need to take them out now. Or else we'll be the enslaved ones. Do you really want to be groveling on your knees before a hairless monkey? The almighty Ares, the descendent of the _war god Ares_, groveling? Groveling before the humans his forefather sent into battle? Into wars? Wars fought for him because he was all mighty, all influential? Do you really want to be locked up in some cage, or cleaning some human's floor like a maid? Is that what you want Ares?"

The ram horned general turned to face Helios. Ares was nearly a foot taller than Helios, almost as tall as Taurus. He was extremely muscular and human shaped in form. However his human body sported curving ram horns and ears and slightly sheepish nose. If his boots were to be removed, one would discover hooves as well. A hoof tipped hand with four fingers pulled Helios off his feet. Red eyes outlined in yellow angrily stared through rusty blonde hair into Helios's orange eyes.

"Helios, I have listened to this bullshit of yours, from you and your people, for over two and a half years now. I have not taking this into consideration in these past two and a half years nor will I ever take this into consideration. It is of no importance or significance to me. I had Jove snooping around my residence last week trying to pass off those booklets about this shit you're slinging to the populace. He took out window when he was thrown out. I would advise to stop pressing your luck with me and go back to the hole you crawled from. I know you've seen Taurus pissed off," Ares said. He pulled Helios's face closer. His eyes burned with a fire even greater than Helios's. "Well Taurus does not have shit on me."

Ares threw Helios to the pavement. Scrolls scattered onto the clean streets. The military head stormed down the street, not even looking back or taking Helios into consideration. The flame of Helios's hair, which had shrunk in fear, rose angrily, spitting and crackling in the night's moisture.

Ares was the last poignant character in a list of poignant people Helios tried to enroll in his assemblage. He was turned down by all. Some did not was to be affiliated with Helios or Jove, who viewed by the populace were nothing more than the spoiled, pampered brats of the upper class. Others did not dislike humans to the point where they were going to join the movement. Some merely did not care. Most, like Ares, brushed it off as if it was nothing. It was just another plan, another failed movement with no real beginning and no successful end and little planning. It was nothing worth dirtying his hands with. Next to Boreas, Ares was the most influential and powerful person in New Olympus, and Helios lost him.

A scroll in Helios's hand burnt to ash. Dammit!

The first person he tried to persuade into joining was Taurus. Taurus was bullheaded to the end. Helios tried repeatedly to coerce the minotaur into joining. With the Chief of Security joining, it would add strength. Unfortunately, Taurus distrusted humans so much that he did not even want them washing his floors. When that bitch Elisa came, Helios knew immediately he had the prawn's chance in a shark feeding frenzy of getting Taurus as his orator. He tried one last time shortly after Elisa and the gargoyles left, thinking that maybe Taurus's opinion of humans change, that maybe he did trust them enough to wash his floors. His opinion changed, but not in Helios's favor. Taurus told Helios where to shove those scrolls and how deeply to shove them.

Echidna, the matriarch of the gorgons, was next. She loathed humans like no other; in fact it was her who initiated that fight with Elisa along with help from Helios. Helios thought he could lean on the old gorgon again. Echidna utterly refused his plans. Echidna refused to deal with humans, refusing to deal with them in the same manner as one refuses to deal with rotten fish. She did not want to see them, touch them, or smell them and definitely did not want them in her household. In return, Echidna told Helios of her little plan in dealing with humans. She wanted to have everything redone in New Olympus so that the island could never be found and penetrated by humans. She wanted things to be as they were thousands of years. Let the old snake crawl into her hole and hide. She couldn't be comforted and hidden forever.

Numerous nobles turned Helios down, and Ares was his last person. He tried desperately to persuade Ares. He would have the army on his side if Ares joined, and that meant the plan could fall into action. He would have the force, the men and the weaponry, to overtake the humans. Helios sent a few followers then his second in command, Jove, to try and convince Ares. When Ares refused, Helios thought maybe he could do better than his subordinates. If you can't do something right…

Unfortunately, Helios couldn't do it right.

Helios thought confronting Ares in the Maenad would keep the notoriously aggressive ram-head in control of his short temper, since there would people all around him. Helios also thought that he would be a better orator than his subordinates, who were not as well learn as him in his opinion, and Jove, who was too pampered and conceited to lower himself to the level of future followers. Helios was wrong in both cases. He pissed Ares off by sitting right at the table and immediately started to talk to him and show off all his "proofs". Ares was waiting for a guest of some kind, he did not come there alone for a drink, he came for a date, and Helios was interrupting it. Ares stormed out, leaving the drinks and dinner for his absent companion and him sitting on the table unpaid for.

Helios's whole entire side was bruised, but his ego was nothing more than a beaten, bloody pulp. That was the most damaging wound of all.

His scrolls, that which did not burn up in his hands, were thrown into his knapsack, emblazoned with the design of a flaming hand holding a lightning bolt, hand ready to smite anyone who disrespects the order.

There is one tiny spark in the city of New Olympus. Everyone ignores that tiny spark, but you can not ignore that tiny spark for long, it would only be a matter of time before that tiny spark ignites a larger fire, and then they'll all be sorry. At least Helios hoped so.

Helios threw his knapsack over his shoulder and headed down the back alleys. He knew he could avoid Ares this way, and avoid the stares of people who immediately knew why Ares was in such a bad mood.

Helios cut through the narrow alleyways and scaled a wall to reach his destination. The wall was about ten feet high, made from grey granite and marble, cracked and smoothed with age. Most walled areas in New Olympus sported an alarm system along with the barrier, but Helios knew it was safe to cross here. This wall was merely a barrier, a barrier just set up to keep the huge buildings of New Olympus out, there was no alarm system. Visitors were allowed to come at any hours here, but it was rare for anyone to come here, to come here anymore anyway.

It was called the Garden of Mnemosyne, the Garden of Memory. It was the oldest structure in New Olympus, next to the theatre, but unlike the theatre which had changed by history into a college, the garden remained untouched. The wall was build to protect the garden, to keep it in antiquity. Three sides of the garden were protected by the wall. The front of the garden was an opened temple, always opened so for visitors to come and pray, as it was for thousands of years. What the temple was built for remains a mystery, if anyone cares to argue for its purpose. Mnemosyne was a goddess, the goddess of memory, and the garden may have been built for her, built for worshippers to come and pray and never forget what memories they held dear, which, thousands of years ago, were all the New Olympians had. Legends say it was built as a monument for the New Olympians to remember why they came here, to remember the abuse they suffered at the hands of the humans, and remember who and what they were.

It was about half to three quarters the size of a city block. Parts of it were still hilly and rocky with large, white stones, a vision of the past, of what New Olympus once looked like before it became covered in buildings. Small trees with twisted silver trunks and branches, sprouted out of the rocks. Poppies, lilies, and orchids, closed for the night and sprinkled with dew drops, popped up in dark, green masses between the white rocks. There was the bubbling of spring in the center of the gardens.

No one came to the garden any more, not to pray anyway. The only people who came to the garden on a regular basis were the city workers, who kept the trees trimmed, planted the flowers, and did the upkeep for the spring. Not even teenagers considered this place a hang out. It was too dead, too lonely to be anything else but a garden, a garden of memory. The air was notoriously thick.

Helios jumped down from the top of the wall, landing on his feet, jarring every bone from his ankles up. Now there was physical pain to go with the mental pain. He didn't jump by choice, but the wall crumbled underneath his feet, forcing him jump to avoid more bodily harm. There was a loud clap as his feet hit the cement ground and several small clicks as the edge of the wall crumbled.

Shit.

Helios brushed himself off, as useless of move as it was. He hated this place. It was a choking, smoldering piece of dirt that would not die, that desperately reached out to anyone who dared come with in its grasp. Everyone shook it off or stepped away, but still, it begged for contact.

Helios picked up his satchel, jarred from his shoulder in the landing. He huffed, in anger or in the overpowering atmosphere of the gardens, as he crossed the gardens.

The garden was not huge. The security headquarter was much larger than this; the distance between Taurus's and Helios's desks was even larger than this, but it felt like an eternity to cross it. The murky bushes and trees, pressed up against the crumbling walls or between the white rocks, moved as if they were reaching out to grasp Helios. Chimes, placed in the trees, jingled with every footstep he took.

And he thought walking in the pitch black, labyrinth basement of the security headquarters was creepy.

"You know why I like this place, Helios? It's the only place where you can still see all the stars."

Helios jumped. He had just turned his head to look suspiciously at a laurel bush with its pink kisses flowers, when this voice popped up behind him. Sitting in the large, marble seats of the temple, was a cloaked figure. It was sitting there was if it was watching a screen, it's feet—hoofed feet—were propped up on the back of another seat.

"Who the Hades are you?" Helios hissed. "What the Hades are you doing in the forsaken piece of dirt?"

There was a smug laugh, from the figure as it rose. A three fingered hand pulled the hood from it head, revealing curving horns tipped in metal—a precaution done by all minotaurs so that they do not gore any citizens, accidentally or purposely—and long mouse brown bangs striped and tipped in blonde. The bangs of the minotaur were styled so that they fell over one eye. The rest of the minotaur's lengthy mane was pulled back in a unique braid and styled with the pins in the shape of conchs, scallops, and starfish. Small hoops, linked together with delicate chains decorated both the minotaur's ears. There was a metal "collar" around the minotaur's neck and wide, gold bands around its ankles and wrists. Teal arm bands were tied around his biceps. Next to the cape, and jewelry, the only other clothing he wore was teal undergarments. The moonlight glinted off of his oiled skin.

"Rion," Helios sneered, not furnishing the minotaur any of the goodwill the minotaur initially showed him. "So you've returned to stripping I see."

"Only once a night; the money's actually better," Rion answered. "More customers crowd in and pay more to see me. It's all good in the end. I actually work as a gardener currently for the greenhouse while I go to school for electronics. It's hard work, but I feel like I'm actually accomplishing something for once."

Helios sputtered in disbelief. "Why exactly are you here? Isn't this a little too far from the strip club?"

"I like it here," Rion answered. "It's the only place you can really appreciate a starry night without huge buildings or lights blurring them. The night is always clear above here. It's sacred."

"So what, you come here after a hard day of stripping to calm your soul?" Helios said, crossing his arms.

"No," Rion answered, "I come here because it stirs it."

Helios sputtered again.

"Why are you here? Is it because of this?" Rion said, pulling a booklet lodged in the band of his clothing. He held it up to Helios; Helios recognized the insignia as his own. "One of your followers was standing out in the alley passing them out."

"I thought you weren't into this junk," Helios said.

"I'm not. This is going to be mulch tomorrow. You can't waste anything," Rion said, returning to the booklet to its spot at his hip. He sat back down, his eyes towards the sky. "Do you know why Boreas never tore this garden down?"

"Because it's an antique," Helios answered sharply, preparing to leave. "A useless antique piece of crap."

"You can say that, but have you ever just stood in the gardens, just stood here and listened, or felt around?" Rion asked.

"Yeah, I'm doing it right now, and I'm not liking it," Helios answered. Rion chuckled as if he was enjoying Helios's discomfort, taking his discomfort as ignorance.

"This land is sacred," Rion said. "It doesn't soothe the soul, it up lifts, stirring it deep with in one's chest. Everyone feels it, but most shake it off, most shake it off now, in our times."

"The gods are dead, Rion. We were the gods. There's absolute proof that WE, the New Olympians, were the gods we and the humans worshipped," Helios said.

"There's no proof that we were gods, Helios," Rion said, chewing on the end of a long piece of grass, staring down at the pavement. "That's your belief, as this is mine."

"Yes there is Rion, it's written on paper," Helios exclaimed.

"Things are open to perception," Rion answered, still chewing not looking at Helios. "You see one thing, someone sees another, and the author means a completely different thing."

"You've never read the scripts Rion. They outright say the humans prayed to us," Helios said.

"And who did we pray to? We had our own gods. This garden they say was built to the goddess of memory, worshipped by both the humans and the ancient Olympians. Maybe a few of the most powerful of us had a human following, but that does not mean we are gods," Rion answered.

"Technology has proven why the sun rises and sets; there is no god behind it. There is no goddess pulling the blanket of night over the city, no god of wine, and no angry god pulling sailors out to sea. THERE IS NO GODS! We can prove that. But we, the New Olympians, are the closest thing there are to gods," Helios hissed. "In this world, we are the gods."

"If this were true, then we fall very short to the gods of legend. We are not as powerful as them; we are not as moral as them. We are not all seeing or all omniscient. I can't create fire from nothing, nor can I control water. I just have horns and mediocre strength, plus I can hang upside down on a pole for twenty minutes, that does not exactly qualify me as a god, now does it? What can I do for my people if I became a god? We are just mortals, just like the humans," Rion answered coyly. He closed his eyes.

"There you go again, about humans!" Helios exclaimed. "They're weak, they have short lives. What do they possibly have that we don't? What makes them our equals?"

Rion's amber-brown eyes opened, and then closed. "New Olympians are all different, not just the races, but the people within each race. We have weaknesses and strengths. Yet, we don't point and laugh at each other's shortcomings. Humans have weaknesses and strengths, just like each separate race has their own power and downfalls."

"And what are the humans' strengths?" Helios asked slyly, trying to catch the minotaur in a trap.

"They're surprising. Elisa could have let Proteus destroy the island, but she didn't. She could have let the whole island of New Olympus die, let every race that remained hidden for thousands of years, die in seconds. Instead, despite the way our people have treated her, she stood up for us," Rion answered. "But we don't know enough about the humans to say this, though. But humans are mortals, we are mortals—we live, we die; both of us. We can choose whether we are good or evil, and so can the humans."

Helios shook his head, his flames almost limping in pity. "You have a very narrow minded, overly optimistic view of the world. You'd think for someone your age, you'll understand how the world turns and where everyone's place is."

Rion's eyes opened, but they did not look at Helios, but into the distance, at a lunar hyacinth bush. "I used to be narrow minded Helios. I used to think I knew everything. I thought the world was an awful place. After all, you know why. The world was dark, evil, and in the end I would get screwed, no matter what happened."

Rion pointed to the lunar bush. "I met him there, underneath that bush. He was twenty-two. I was twenty-five, and working a shitty, unfulfilling job as a bartender. He was kneeling down putting a bouquet of white irises at the base of the tree and I wondered what he was doing. After all, no one comes to the garden. He told me he sprinkled the ashes of his family through the garden, they promised to take him here when he was little before they were killed in a fire. Every week he would stop to see them and bring them flowers from his flower shop and talk to them. Immediately I knew who he was and soon, he knew who I was, and after that, I knew who I was and what the world was."

Helios tsk-tsked.

Pathetic.

"When he died, I spread his ashes under that tree. When he was alive, I always came with him down here, every week. I don't even know what happened to my family's ashes, I really wish I knew. I would love just to sit down and talk to them, even if they are dead. I still come to see him every week and talk and bring him flowers," Rion said.

"You didn't bring flowers," Helios said, noting that there was no bouquet of flowers.

"This was a stop; I was on my way to meet an _acquaintance_ at the Maenad," Rion said. "Tell me, Helios, do you believe in souls or spirits? Have you ever believed in the gods?"

"You speak as if this world as if it was from scripture, you talk as if you have the eyes of child," Helios said.

"Sometimes that is the best way to see the world," Rion answered, looking away from Helios. He plucked the grass blade from his lips and tossed it into the bushes.

"I don't believe in the gods, Rion," Helios said. "Even if now was the ancient times, I wouldn't believe in the gods. Look now! The gods didn't protect us from the humans! We had to build this fortress to protect us, we had to come up with the technology to save our skins, and the gods turned a blind eye to us! They ignored our prayers instead of blessing us and protecting us. We had to rely on ourselves instead of these foolish make-believe deities. We're the gods, not them. Never Zeus, or Hera or Athena!"

"Or did we turn a blind eye to the gods?" Rion stated, half closing his eyes.

"What are you saying? That the gods exist? That we are the fools?" Helios exclaimed, his flames rising, lighting the area around them. "What? We should get on our knees before these gods and make sacrifices and pray to them? Pray to them to save our hides? What, do you think these gods will give us anything we want as long as we pray to them? It didn't work thousands of years ago, and it's not going to work now!"

"No, I'm not saying that all. We can't rely on the gods for everything, if that's what you are thinking. The gods are here, but they are not like the gods of legends," Rion said. "Legends say that someone prays to a god and the god gives them exactly what they want. It's not that easy."

"So what? What's your view on gods? What do you see them as if they're not making life easier for us?" Helios said. "What good are they?"

"They give us strength Helios. We pray to them, we seek them for comfort, that's why they are here. They help us discover ourselves, which is much more useful and essential than praying for rain or victory in battle. People in this city became selfish. Now, they seek comfort in cold steel in rapidly changing world," Rion said. In a waving motion, he pointed out the city, the buildings, and the buzzing sounds of technology.

"You are insane," Helios spat.

"I might be," Rion said, his voice cracking for the first time. The minotaur's snout drooped. "In a city of cold metal and hate, I can still find comfort in myself. Can you?"

"What? Find comfort in myself?" Helios said. "Bullshit, Rion. You're spouting nothing but pure bullshit."

Rion stood up, facing Helios. "It's the comfort in me that keeps me from strangling you, Helios. If things were different, I would be in a jail cell where you used to work, and it will be your ashes sprinkled on the ground. You call me ignorant, but have you looked at yourself? You too ignorant, too blind, to see anything, to go anywhere!"

The minotaur's half closed eyes opened, they were rimmed in red. "Every time I look at you, I saw what I used to be. A pathetic little man gripping on old disparagements, growing bitter and blinder everyday. The world owed me everything, I was one to run it, those who turned their backs to me or bad mouthed me deserved to die, deserved suffering and pain because it was against me."

Rion lifted Helios by his collar with one finger. The minotaur's snout was inches from Helios's face. "And I couldn't become you again—not even for the cold consolation of revenge."

He tossed Helios down onto the pavement. "You think that there is nothing wrong with your actions, that everything is justified, and that which is not, can be forgotten, just a small, easily erasable blunder. Even if most Olympians turn their backs on the gods, they are not selfish enough to turn their backs on guilt or the past and what they have done. What sickens me isn't your disobedience; it's your lack of repentance. Did you even cry one tear when you hacked that fireball into my bedroom? Tell me, did you? Did you mouth even grow dry when you looked into the paper and saw it on the headlines? Did your stomach turn bitter when you saw the covered bodies being taken away from the scene? Or did you just shake it off? Do you ever think about it? Tell me, do you? Or was worse feeling you got from killing all those people in that childish prank was the feeling you were going to get caught or get in trouble? Even though you damn straight knew it was going to be a slap on the wrist, after all, you were only fifteen years old, a juvenile. You didn't know any better did you? And the sad thing is, you still don't."

"Didn't you tell me earlier you weren't one to dwell on the past, Orion?" Helios shouted from the ground. His flames rose and burned as if oil was dumped on his head.

"Look who is talking," Rion said. "You live in the musty scriptures from thousand years passed, calling yourself a god, when you are even worse a murder than Proteus, at least he dwells on his crime. You're regretless, now you see why the humans were terrified of us, why they killed us."

"Those people are dead," Helios exclaimed, "I can't bring them back, there's nothing I can do, there's nothing I could do. NOTHING NO ONE COULD DO! Why the Hades should I worry about them?"

"BECAUSE YOU KILLED THEM!" Rion exclaimed.

"There's nothing neither one of us can do, is there?" Helios said, starting to rise from the pavement. "You kill me, you become me, and wouldn't that just kill you from the inside? Your gods can't bring back your family or your boyfriend. And there's nothing I can do at all."

"You could apologize," Rion said, turning away. His body was trembling; Helios was striking a cord with the minotaur. "Ask for forgiveness."

"What? From your dusty gods? Just praying to them makes me a free man?" Helios laughed.

"You can pray to them for the strength to ask for forgiveness," Rion said looking over his shoulder. "They can't save you. They're not the ones to ask. Only you can save yourself."

"Well then, I'm sorry," Helios chuckled.

"Not to me," Rion said, turning. "I'm not the one to ask. Nor will I give you forgiveness—ever."

"Aren't we a little haughty? Weren't you all for peace and love?" Helios said. Rion shook his head.

"I'm mortal, Helios. I accept that, I will die, I do mistakes, and I have feelings and faults. I accept the fact Julius is dead. My mother and father are dead. My little sister and brother are dead, but I can't accept the fact you are walking around scotch-free, guilt-free as if nothing had happened. It's okay to get over things, but sometimes you can't, that's what makes me mortal. I'm still stuck to the past, and I'll never, ever get free from it. People who say to get over it are idiots. I live, I try to," Rion said. "Unfortunately, forgiveness is a rare item, and it is only given to those who deserve it, and want it—those who want it to ease pain. You'll have to ask them," Rion indicated the garden, "before you ask me. They may be more charitable."

The minotaur walked away, his footsteps echoing through the temple. The footsteps lingered in the air like the tinkling of the bells in the trees. The gardens swallowed up the sound and held on to it.

&&&

"Rion, you look worse for wear," a voice said from behind Rion as he walked down the street. "Tough night at the club, little songbird?"

"Ah, Ares, it's nice to see you," Rion said. A crimson cape found its way around his shoulders, over his own cape, as did an arm. "You weren't at the Maenad, something happened?"

"Nothing for you to worry about, songbird," Ares said.

The minotaur nodded. "Same here. You don't have worry either."

"You're so quiet sometimes, little songbird," Ares said. The minotaur managed a weak smile at the taller, ram horned figure.

"And you can be so gentle sometimes, Ares," returned Rion, but with half the vigor he normally contained.

"Tell no one that," Ares mock threatened. Behind the jibe was a truthful plea. Rion took it to heart.

"Promise," Rion said.

"Aren't you the one who told me things always end up looking up?" Ares said.

"Indeed, I do believe I did," Rion said. He leaned on Ares. "And I do believe they are."

&&&

_Two days later…_

"Hey Orion!" one of the city workers, a centaur shouted from the temple entrance, "ya almost done in there?"

The centaur had most of the brooms, rakes, and hoes packed into the hovercraft, and she was waiting impatiently for the minotaur, who had arrived an hour late, to finish clipping some of the blooming olive trees. The centaur had already tended to lawn, sidewalk, spring, flowers, bushes, and ornaments, but had left the trees for grooming. The four legged centaur could not reach the trees' branches nor climb a ladder, she had to save that for her tardy, two legged partner.

"Give me a moment," Rion exclaimed, folding up the ladder. He carried down the sidewalk and through the temple to the city street. The centaur waited by one huge hovercraft, loaded with tools. Another hovercraft was loaded with bags of trimmings and heavier equipment. This was the one Rion drove. Rion tossed the ladder into the backseat of the hovercraft. "Hey, Io, I have something to take care of, how about you head over to headquarters, drop the hovercraft off, and go home. I'll take the clippings to the recycling plant and put all the tools away from both hovercrafts."

Io, the centaur, nodded. "Good."

She jumped onto her hovercraft and took off down the street. With Io gone, Rion reached under the seat of the hovercraft and removed a bouquet of white irises. The leaves were starting to wilt in the heat and a few flowers lost their petals.

"Damn," Rion said, carrying the dying bouquet to the garden. He spoke as he walked down the pavement. Over the buzzing machinery, no one could hear him, but it did not matter, Rion would have talked anyway. "I guess you're gonna have to settle for this, Julius. I know it's not perfect. I still have those dried flowers you collected, so you probably won't mind these slightly limp ones from me; you said all flowers in all forms are beautiful, right? And your flower shop is in good hands. I stopped by to pick these up there. The harpy and gorgon who bought it are taking good care of it; they even fixed up that backroom you were too sick to clean up. They put a pond in there, a lily pond, just like you wanted to. No flowers yet though, but when there are I'll buy you some."

One of the silver bells, just freshly hung in a tree by Io, chimed.

"Yeah, I know you'd like that," Rion said. He came to the lunar hyacinth bush. "Huh?"

A garland of red laurel lay at the base of the tree. Nearby, a section of wall crumbled and fell to the pavement.


End file.
